Captured: Take Back The Night March

Welcome to The Daily’s photo blog: Captured. This will be a space for The Daily’s photographers to share their best work, including photos from weekend performances and events around the community. You can contact the photographers by emailing photo@dailynorthwestern.com.

About 100 people marched down Sheridan Road on Thursday in the annual Take Back the Night march, holding banners with supportive messages and yelling chants such as “Whatever I wear, wherever I go, yes means yes and no means no!”

The march is the centerpiece of Take Back the Night, a week-long program of events sponsored by Northwestern’s College Feminists that aims to raise awareness and educate the campus community about sexual assault.

The march focuses on supporting survivors of sexual assault.

Jeffrey Wang/Daily Senior Staffer

“We want to keep the focus that this is a survivor-centered event,” Medill junior Sarah Van Cleve, co-chair of Take Back the Night, said at the beginning of the march. “If you are a survivor thank you for being here … We want you to know that we are here, we hear you, we support you and we believe you.”

Jeffrey Wang/Daily Senior Staffer

Weinberg freshman Adam Davies gave the keynote speech before the march, sharing his experience with sexual assault and emphasizing the community’s responsibility to be present at survivor-centric events.

Jeffrey Wang/Daily Senior Staffer

“We have a sexual assault epidemic on campus, and one incident is just the tip of the iceberg,” Davies said, referencing February reports of allegations of druggings and sexual assaults at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house and another, unnamed fraternity house.

Davies, speaking to the largely female crowd, also said he was surprised and disappointed that more men — specifically fraternity members — were not present at the march.

Jeffrey Wang/Daily Senior Staffer

Weinberg freshman Riley Ceperich, who attended the march, said she recently joined College Feminists and is looking to get more involved.

“After all the stuff with SAE happened, I just felt like there needs to be more of a movement on campus to try to change the culture, because the school didn’t seem to be responding the way that I think they should be,” Ceperich said. “It’s really important to support all the survivors.”